Presented For Your Approval: Stunt NPCs/Rules Test Dummies

[Stormtalon]

Oftentimes, it seems that when discussing rules, actions, powers and suchlike one finds they need to have some sort of generic -- shall we say -- target upon which to demonstrate. Usually, it's done in a very general fashion and names and the such don't get used. This can, however, become mired in a confusion of him/her/it and other indefinite articles of indeterminate use.

On another board I had occasion to describe a bit of house-ruling I use, and rather than go with some nameless "it," I decided to give my hapless rules-victims names. To wit, I present unto you all:

The crash-test-orcs, Reg (a normal member of his species) and his boss Nigel the Ferocious-yet-Well-Coiffed, an Elite orc. You may imagine them as your typical orc with one particular exception -- they are dressed in the garb and wigs of pre-revolution French Nobility.

Do unto them as you wish, as it is their lot in life. By way of example I will present a slightly edited version of their introduction to the bounteous tortures which I am sure await them here.

Did you know that monsters always get a save to avoid being pushed off cliffs and into pits by movement powers?

{Name Expurgated}, this actually extends to forced movement through a dangerous square. This rule is easy to miss because it's in the terrain types section of the DMG, which means that players are unlikely to see it (due to the DMG not being required reading for them), and a DM might miss because he skimmed over that section.

See, I know about that rule about saves for monsters, but usually I only roll the save for Elites & Solos -- if the party's good about maneuvering generic orc solder #13 (aka: "Reg") up against and over a cliff edge/ledge of a building/pit of lava, well it sucks to be Reg then. His boss, Nigel the Ferocious-yet-Well-Coiffed, is a different matter entirely and may well manage to dive to one side and avoid the high jump entirely *and* not even muss his hair.

(It may help to imagine the two as orcs dressed like pre-revolution French nobility, btw)

And pity the poor minion-level monsters, who don't even get the dignity of a long, dramatic fall to their deaths, as the blow that would send them hurtling over a precipice is sufficient to end them entirely. And honestly, what's the point of being tossed over a cliff if you can't scream dramatically on the way down?